Exploring Zotero, Hypothesis, and Anki: Tools and Hardware Recommendations for Managing Knowledge and Spaced Repetition
dave424
I'm new to Zotero and Hypothesis and am exploring how these tools might fit into my workflow. My background is in spaced repetition using Anki, and I've been thinking about ways to better manage the articles and documents I come across.
For context, I’ve been using Anki to copy entire articles and create cloze deletions to help build long-term memory. For those unfamiliar, cloze deletions are a method where you take a piece of text, hide certain words or phrases, and then use spaced repetition to recall the hidden information. It’s great for building long-term memory because it forces you to actively recall specific details from the material you're learning. The problem is, Anki isn’t really designed for handling large articles, and I’ve noticed it’s getting slow. It’s also difficult to organize everything since Anki doesn’t give you a nice file browser or any real way to manage large amounts of information efficiently.
Another issue I’ve run into is that I want to make connections between the different pieces of knowledge I’ve collected. I'd like to be able to arrange the information more creatively—moving things around, linking ideas, and building up a chain of concepts. I looked into tools like Obsidian and Logseq, which seem promising as they already have plugins for syncing with Anki and are quite customizable in that sense. I also noticed that Obsidian now has a canvas functionality, but I didn’t really like it. To me, it feels like friction—it’s not as fluid or natural as I feel with OneNote. The canvas in Obsidian feels abstract and a bit disconnected for my use. You have to switch into it and manage some abstract elements, which doesn’t feel as intuitive as dragging and dropping elements freely like you can in OneNote. Plus, there's still the issue with markdown: it feels restrictive, and while it's powerful, it’s not ideal for the kind of rich-text and flexible arrangement I’m looking for.
Also, I’ve been wondering if there’s a browser-based tool that could fit my needs. Anki cards are essentially HTML-based, and you can even add JavaScript to them. This flexibility in Anki is one of the reasons why syncing with markdown-based tools like Obsidian and Logseq sometimes causes issues—more complex cards lose their versatility when reduced to simple markdown text. I sometimes use interactive elements in my Anki cards, so having a browser-based tool might be a better solution to maintain this level of flexibility.
I’m imagining a tool where I could use Zotero and Hypothesis, and in the browser, there’s a canvas-like environment (similar to OneNote) where I can drag and drop HTML elements, text, pictures, etc. This would allow me to arrange things visually, annotate using tools like Hypothesis, and even sync certain elements into a spaced repetition system. The advantage of a browser-based tool is that it could maintain the interactive HTML elements, allowing for more complex and versatile cards without losing functionality like with markdown tools. I’m not sure how feasible this is in practice, or whether you can truly drag and drop HTML elements or need some stricter structure, but it’s an idea I’m exploring.
What I’m Looking For:
- Arrange knowledge more flexibly, like a rich-text editor or canvas, without being limited to markdown.
- Make connections between different ideas and knowledge cards, perhaps even generating cloze deletions or cards for spaced repetition.
- Use tools like Zotero and Hypothesis for highlighting, annotating, and organizing bibliographies, and integrating them with Anki.
- Explore if there’s a browser-based tool that allows drag and drop of HTML elements, so I can maintain more complex card functionality in Anki without being restricted by markdown.
- I need customizable APIs because I’d like to do some customization and syncing across these tools.
S-Pens, Tablets, and Foldables:
On the hardware side, I’ve seen a lot of people talk about the Samsung S-Pen, which got me thinking about how it might help with more precise text selection—especially for highlighting text for Anki. My current Samsung Galaxy XCover phone makes selecting text a pain, so I thought an S-Pen might make that easier.
I’m also considering getting a Windows tablet to run the desktop version of Anki (since it’s more powerful than the mobile version). But I’ve also seen those Samsung foldable phones—are they worth it for someone who wants to use an S-Pen for productivity tasks like highlighting, annotating, and working with spaced repetition systems? If anyone’s using them, I’d love to know how they compare to traditional tablets.
What I’m Looking For:
- Flexible tools to help me organize and connect ideas (possibly beyond markdown).
- API integration to sync everything and allow for further customization.
- Recommendations for tablets or foldables that work well with Anki, Hypothesis, Zotero, and other similar tools.
If anyone here has found a good solution for managing knowledge, making complex connections, and syncing everything together (preferably with APIs), I’d love to hear your thoughts. I’m especially curious about how others are using tools to build knowledge chains and connect their learning materials, and whether you’ve had success with markdown-based tools or more flexible alternatives like OneNote.
Thanks in advance!
